How to connect vertices in a mesh efficiently?
You can create a surface from edge rings using the Looptools Loft tool or use Blender's default operator Bridge Edge Loops.

LoopTools addon



If you don't have the Looptools enabled, enable them through the user preferences:


To use the Loft tool, select your loops in the order you want to connect them (the order is important).

Then either go to the Tools panel on the left --> Looptools --> Loft (as seen in the gif above). 

Or: open the specials menu using W --> Looptools --> Loft.

Bridge Edge Loops

Select edge loops, press Ctrl+E > Bridge Edge Loops (or find it in menu of 3D View header: Mesh > Edges > Bridge Edge Loops).